Farmer–Citizen Movement

The Farmer–Citizen Movement was founded in October 2019 by agricultural journalist Caroline van der Plas, together with Wim Groot Koerkamp and Henk Vermeer from agricultural marketing firm ReMarkAble, in response to the widespread farmers' protests that had taken place earlier that month.[8][9] On 17 October 2020, Van der Plas was unanimously chosen as the party's lijsttrekker.[10] It won one seat at the 2021 general election.[8]

The BBB won the 2023 Dutch provincial elections, winning the popular vote and receiving the most seats in all twelve provinces.[11][12][13][14] Given that the provincial councils elect the Dutch Senate, the party was predicted to win 17 seats in the 2023 Dutch Senate election, the most of any party;[13] in the event it won 16.

On 1 September 2023, former JA21 MPs Nicki Pouw-Verweij and Derk Jan Eppink and former PVV MP Lilian Helder joined the BBB parliamentary group in the run-up to the 2023 parliamentary elections, quadrupling the number of seats of the BBB from 1 to 4 seats

The BBB is a primarily agrarian[4] and right-wing populist[5][15][16] political party, that is generally placed on the right-wing[17][18][19][20] of the political spectrum. The party has been variously described as conservative,[21] Christian-democratic,[22] centre-right,[21][23] centrist[4] and partially centre-left.[4] While not a far-right party itself, some academics and journalists have argued that it is supported by far-right elements.[24][25] The BBB shifted further to the right after PVV and JA21 members joined the BBB faction in September 2023.[26][27]

In European politics, the party is regarded as Eurosceptic.[5][28] The BBB supports Dutch membership of the European Union (EU) for trading purposes, but wants to reduce the power of the EU "to a level of how the EEC was once intended" and opposes federalisation of the EU. The party argues that each country and region within the EU should be allowed to maintain its identity and culture without interference.[29][28]

On foreign policy, the party also supports Dutch membership of NATO and has called for providing Ukraine with F-16s.[30]

On immigration and asylum, the party supports accommodating refugees fleeing wars but prefers they be helped close to the region of where they are from rather than encouraging migration to the Netherlands and intends for most refugees to return home once the conflict is over. It also calls for immigrants to already be employed and financially self-supporting before moving to the Netherlands, and they must learn Dutch, work and pay tax in the Netherlands for at least five years before becoming eligible for permanent residency. The party supports deporting illegal immigrants.[28]

The party considers itself to support both food politics[31] and rural development.[32] It opposes the Rutte government's proposals to mitigate the human impact on the nitrogen cycle following the Nitrogen crisis in the Netherlands.[33]

Party leader Caroline van der Plas has stated that the Party for the Animals and animal rights organization Wakker Dier are two of the BBB's biggest enemies, and that the party uses its social media presence to provide an alternative perspective.[34]

In the 2021 Dutch general election, the party focused its campaign on issues important to rural and agrarian voters, including pledges for a "Ministry of the Countryside" located at least 100 kilometers from The Hague, and a removal of the ban on neonicotinoids.[35] The party called for a Right to Agriculture Act, which would allow for farmers to have more say on agricultural expansion matters, in response to local opposition to pig and goat farms over public health, environmental and agricultural concerns.

• Dutch farmers' protests
• Farmers' Party (Netherlands)
• List of agrarian parties
• List of political parties in the Netherlands

• Official website (in Dutch)
• Media related to BoerBurgerBeweging at Wikimedia Commons